QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator FARRELL (South Australia—Minister for Trade and Tourism, Special Minister of State and Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:47): I thank Senator Canavan for his second supplementary question. This agreement, unlike all of the agreements that the Nationals negotiated, has no investor-state dispute clause in it. We have rejected— The PRESIDENT: Senator Canavan?

Senator Canavan: I didn't ask about the ISDS clauses. I asked about the trade and sustainability chapter and the dispute resolution processes in that chapter. So, on relevance, we would like an answer on that.

The PRESIDENT: Senator Canavan, you have repeated your question. I think the minister was being relevant. I'm not an expert on the EU trade deal—my apologies for that.

But you have drawn the minister back to that part of your question, and I invite the minister to continue. Senator FARRELL: In terms of sovereignty, it was those clauses that I just mentioned, the investor-state dispute clauses, that gave other countries the right to challenge our laws, and of course they used them. In fact, Clive Palmer recently used this clause, under one of their agreements, to challenge us in Singapore.

We have protected Australian sovereignty in this agreement, but, more importantly, we've got billions and billions and billions of dollars worth of trade for the farmers. (Time expired)